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Elefthérios Kyriakos Venizélos (Greek: Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος) (23 August 1864 – 18 March 1936), also called Eleuthérios Venizélos, was one of the most significant politicians of modern Greece.

Education and entry into politics

Venizélos was born in Murniés, near Chania, Crete, the son of Kyriakos Venizélos, a Cretan revolutionary who was deported by the Ottoman authorities to Síros along with his family in 1866 following an insurrection. Venizélos studied law at the University of Athens, where he was active in Cretan politics, then returned to Crete where he practiced as a lawyer and journalist. A year later he was elected to the National Assembly for the newly-formed Liberal Party.

Family

Eleftherios was the father of Greek Politician Sofoklis Venizelos

The Cretan uprising

Venizélos was in favor of Cretan enosis, or Union with Greece, and was a leader of the Cretan rebellion of 1897. The uprising ended with Crete being granted autonomy by the Ottoman Empire. British, Russian, Italian and Austro-Hungarian battle ships and marines came to Crete to force the Turkish army out of the island. Under pressure from the European powers, Prince George of Greece (second son of King George I) was made High Commissioner of the island, with Venizélos serving as his minister of justice from 1899 to 1901. The European powers helped Prince George to create a Cretan Gendarmerie in order to enforce the law.

Falling out with Prince George

Prince George and Venizélos soon had a falling out because George, a staunch royalist, assumed absolute power. Venizélos became leader of the opposition, and when matters came to a head in 1905, led an armed insurgency, which eventually forced the prince to leave the island. He was replaced by former Greek prime minister Alexandros Zaimis, and Venizélos rejoined the government, first as Minister of Justice and Foreign Minister, and in 1910 as President of the Assembly of Cretans, then as Prime Minister of the Cretan State.

Election to the Greek Parliament

In 1910, in Athens, the Parliament was dissolved in a political crisis. Venizélos moved to Athens at the invitation of the Military League and in the elections of 8 August 1910, he and his team were elected members of the Parliament, with Venizélos himself representing Athens. His founded his political party, Komma Fileleftheron (Liberal Party), at this time. On 2 October 1910, he formed a government and started to reorganize the economic, political, and national affairs of the country.

Because of his prudence in shaking-up the army and fleet and creating the Balkan League, the country was well prepared for the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, and thus it became possible to liberate the Northern territories of Epirus, Macedonia, and the Aegean Islands. He had many debates with Crown Prince Constantine on the route the Army should take and which cities should be liberated first. This was the first conflict between Venizélos and Constantine, who shortly became king after his father's assassination in 1913.

Dispute over Greece's role in World War I

The next conflict between Constantine and Venizélos was during World War I.

Though Greece remained neutral for the first years, Venizélos supported an alliance with the Entente, believing that Britain and France would win. On the other hand, Constantine favoured the Central Powers and wanted to remain neutral. After a series of debates, Venizélos resigned on 21 February 1915. Venizélos's party again won the elections and formed a government. Although Venizélos promised to remain neutral, Bulgaria's attack on Serbia, with which Greece had a treaty of alliance, obliged him to abandon that policy. A major dispute with the king caused him to resign again. He did not take part in the next elections, as he considered the dissolution of Parliament unconstitutional. Meanwhile, using the excuse of saving Serbia, the Allies disembarked an army in Thessaloniki.

The National Schism

This debate between Venizélos and Constantine was the cause of the National Schism, which affected the country for many decades. In 1916, after the invasion of the Macedonia region by a joint German, Austrian and Bulgarian army, Venizelos's followers under his command organized a military coup in Thessaloniki, and proclaimed the "Temporary Government of National Defence". There, they founded a new "state" including Northern Greece, Crete and the Aegean Islands, with the backing of the Allies who, in the mean time, had occupied the city and port of Thessaloniki under the command of General Maurice Sarrail.

Return to Athens

In May 1917, after the exile of Constantine to Switzerland and the succession of his second son Alexander, Venizélos returned to Athens and allied with the Entente and declared war on the Central Powers. Greek military forces (though divided between supporters of the monarchy and supporters of Venizélos) began to take part in military operations against the Bulgarian army on the border. By the fall of 1918, the Greek army, with nine divisions, was the largest part of the Allied army in Greece.

Under the command of French General Franchet d'Esperey, Allied forces launched a major offensive against the Bulgarian and German army, starting on 14 September 1918. The Bulgarian army quickly gave up their defensive positions and began retreating back towards Bulgaria. On 30 September, the Bulgarian government asked for an armistice. The Greek army ended up playing a small role in one of the final campaigns of World War I.

Negotiation of postwar treaties

Following the conclusion of World War I, Venizélos took part in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and as Greece's representative signed the Treaty of Neuilly (27 November 1919) and the Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920). As the result of these treaties, Greece acquired (temporarily) Eastern Thrace and Smyrna. On his journey home, he faced an assassination attack at the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris. After his recovery he returned in Greece, where he was welcomed as a hero because he had liberated areas with Greek populations.

1920 electoral defeat and withdrawal from politics

Despite the war victory, he lost the November 1920 elections, to the great dissatisfaction of the newly liberated populations in Asia Minor, and King Constantine was recalled. As a result of his defeat, Venizélos left for Paris, withdrawing from politics.

Following the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), as the representative of Greece, he signed the Treaty of Lausanne with Turkey on 24 July 1923. After an insurrection led by General Ioannis Metaxas forced King George into exile (his father, Constantine, having been again dethroned the previous year), Venizélos returned to Greece and became prime minister once again. However, he left again in 1924 after quarrelling with anti-monarchists. He returned later and took over the Liberal Party once more.

Return to power in 1928 and subsequent exile

In the elections held on 5 July 1928, Venizélos's party regained power and forced the government to hold new elections on 19 August of the same year; this time his party won 228 out of 250 places in Parliament. Venizelos governed Greece until 1932, when the People's Party under Panagis Tsaldaris returned to power. The political climate became more tense, and in 1933 Venizelos was the target of a second assassination attempt. The pro-royalist tendencies of the government led to an attempted military coup in March 1935, under the leadership of Venizelos and General Nikolaos Plastiras. After the coup's failure, Venizelos left Greece once more.

After his departure, trials and executions of prominent Venizelists were carried out, and he himself sentenced to death in absentia. The severely weakened Second Hellenic Republic was abolished in October 1935 and George II returned to the throne, following a rigged referendum.

Exile and death

Venizélos left for Paris, where he died in 1936 while staying at the Hotel Ritz. A crowd of supporters from the local Greek community in Paris accompanied his body to the railway station prior to its departure for Greece.

His body was taken by the destroyer Pavlos Kountouriotis to Chania, avoiding Athens so as not to cause unrest. He was subsequently buried in Akrotiri in Crete with much ceremony.

See also

• Venizelism
• Megali Idea

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• Prime Ministers of Greece
• People from Crete
• People sentenced to death in absentia
• 1864 births
• 1936 deaths